No doubt about it: Microsoft and Nokia are serious about Windows Phone becoming a third contender in the U.S. smartphone race. The Nokia Lumia 900, a Windows Phone handset that debuted to rave reviews at CES earlier this month, will reportedly launch on the AT&T network in March at the barnburner price of $99.99.
Boy Genius Report says it got its hands on part of AT&T’s 2012 product-rollout strategy, which shows the Lumia 900 is slated for a March 18 release date. While the launch date isn’t a surprise, the phone’s price certainly is: $100 with a 2-year contract.
PCWorld called the Lumia 900 the best smartphone of CES. Take a look:
Impressive Specs
Featuring such high-end attributes as a curved, 4.3-inch AMOLED display, LTE support, and an 8-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, the Lumia 900 sports some lofty specs for a hundred-dollar phone.
PCWorld editor Ginny Mies took a look at the Lumia 900 at CES 2012 earlier this month, and was impressed with what she saw.
“For me, the most exciting feature is the 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss lens with F2.2 aperture. The Lumia 900 has a dual wide-mode function allowing you to take wide-angle shots. I wasn’t able to test the Lumia 900’s camera on the show floor, but when I tested the Lumia 800’s camera a few months ago, I was impressed with the snappy shutter speed and high quality photos,” Mies wrote.
The Lumia 900’s low price would be a second strike in Nokia’s aggressive attack on the U.S. smartphone market. Earlier this month, Walmart began offering the Nokia Lumia 710 for free with a two-year T-Mobile contract.
A capable, relatively low-end phone, the Lumia 710 runs Windows Phone 7.5, and features a 3.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera, and a Qualcomm 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor.
Certainly, the price is right for the Nokia’s new series of sleek-and-slim Windows Phones. But will shoppers be lured away from the siren call of Androids and iPhones?
Contact Jeff Bertolucci at Today@PCWorld, Twitter (@jbertolucci) or jbertolucci.blogspot.com.